Editorial: Help stop domestic violence

Every day, three women in the U.S. are killed by a current or former intimate partner. Let's repeat that to make sure it sinks in: Every day, three women in the U.S. are killed by a current or former intimate partner.

If that's not scary enough, here are a few more statistics from the National Network to End Domestic Violence: nearly one in every four women are beaten or raped by a partner during adulthood; some 15.5 million children are exposed to domestic violence every year; this violence costs $5.8 billion a year, mostly in medical bills.

But wait, as they say in the TV ads, there's more:

? Men who are exposed to physical abuse, sexual abuse and adult domestic violence as children were almost four times more likely to be abusers as adults.

? Children who are exposed to violence are more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, engage in teenage prostitution and commit sexual assaults.

? Women who experienced domestic violence are more likely to be occasionally without work, have health problems, or receive welfare.

Why does this problem persist despite the best efforts or organizations such as NNEDV nationally and Pisgah Legal Services locally?

Are we stepping too lightly? One school of thought is that people would be more outraged if we called it wife-beating. Yes, we know, some victims are male. But the overwhelming majority are female. In virtually all cases, it is a male thug who thinks the proper way to communicate with a female partner is to beat her.

Besides the risk factors cited above, there is one other: poverty. Poor people are three times more likely to experience wife beating, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

"Domestic violence victims who live in poverty are often trapped by financial abuse, or simply a lack of financial resources. Abusers can easily use the situation to their advantage, keeping victims and their children locked in a cycle of violence," says Kim Gandy, president and CEO of NNEDV.

The poverty rate in Buncombe County is 17.1 percent. The corrosive effects of economic stress, particularly long-term economic stress like we've witnessed thanks to the Great Recession, can translate into physical stress and violence.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which evolved from the first Day of Unity in 1981 sponsored by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Gandy will speak at Pisgah Legal Services' third annual poverty forum, 7 p.m. Tuesday at Diana Wortham Theater.

The theme for this year's forum: "Trapped by Poverty, Trapped by Abuse: Pursuing Justice for Victims of Domestic Violence," reflects Pisgah's focus on the poverty-violence linkage.

In addition, Pisgah has begun a No Excuses Campaign to Stop Domestic Violence. The goals are to raise awareness and to raise funds to help fill the gap in Pisgah's domestic violence program budget left by federal funding cuts.

Pisgah provides free legal aid in civil matters for the poor. The agency says that 30 percent of its work is with victims of domestic violence, and 4,300 people were helped last year alone.

More than 300 people already are signed up for the forum, according to Katie Russell Miller, development and communications manager for Pisgah. If you want to attend, contact Betsy Fedder at 210-3444 or betsy@pisgahlegal.org. Tickets are $15 for the reception alone or $50 for the reception and a 5:30 p.m. cocktail reception.

There are far worse ways to spend an evening and a little money. Domestic violence is not going to go away until people demand that it does and work to alleviate the conditions that allow violence to flourish, such as poverty.

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Editorial: Help stop domestic violence

Every day, three women in the U.S. are killed by a current or former intimate partner. Let's repeat that to make sure it sinks in: Every day, three women in the U.S. are killed by a current or former